and expression of personal style.
Elaborately tooled saddles helped express pride in their owners' horsemanship and identified individual possessions among cowboys, Chaps—especially bat wing chaps, with wide wings buckled to the leg only at the knee—provided large surface areas for tooling, overlays and inlayed leather patterns. Cuffs, originally created to protect shirt sleeves and wrists from harm, became a fashion statement when worn by rodeo riders.